Chapter 575: Battle against Klitschko

There are many blockbusters released at the end of the year, including Warner Bros.' "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" and "Interstellar", Fox's "Madagascar Penguins: Operation: The Big Move", Universal's "Dumb and Dumber 2", and Disney's "Big Hero 6".

They are all relatively competitive big productions.

If Lionsgate wants to step on the six major studios and become the industry's number one, it not only needs strength, but also a certain amount of luck.

At the end of November, Link led the team to Las Vegas to participate in the WBA-WBC heavyweight boxing title merger held here. The opponent was the famous "Dr. Iron Fist" Vitali Klitschko.

Klitschko is 43 years old this year, 202 cm tall, 203 wingspan, and weighs 248 pounds.

He was originally a free-fighting athlete, won six free-fighting world championships, and had an amateur boxing record of 195 wins and 15 losses, including 80 knockout wins.

He entered the professional boxing world in 1996 and set a Guinness World Record in 1999 - he is the world heavyweight champion who won 26 boxing matches by KO in the least rounds. The previous record holder was Mike Tyson of the United States.

Now Link is also the creator of this record. He is the boxer who won 39 matches by KO in the least rounds.

Klitschko's current professional match record is 47 wins and 41 KO wins in 49 matches.

Only two matches ended in failure, losing to "Fast Fire" Chris Bird in 2000 and losing to British boxing champion Lennox Lewis in 2003.

The first loss to Chris Bird was due to the recurrence of his shoulder injury. Continuing to fight would ruin his career. At the suggestion of his coach, he took the initiative to give up the game.

The second loss to Lewis was during the game. He was hit in the left eye by Lewis and bleeding profusely. The referee on the ring asked to stop the game.

Despite losing two games, Klitschko has never been KOed in his career, which also shows that he is very strong.

Since 1999, Klitschko has won the WBO heavyweight gold belt and the WBC heavyweight gold belt twice, and won more than ten defenses.

He is also considered one of the most powerful boxers in the heavyweight boxing world.

Klitschko's specialty in boxing is comprehensive technology, speed, punch weight, defense, combination punches, tactics, and on-the-spot reaction ability are all very good. He focuses on punching efficiency and former Soviet-style boxing tactics to the extreme, and his comprehensive strength is very strong.

The disadvantage is that he is not strong in resistance to blows, is prone to injury, and has an old shoulder injury. In addition, his fighting style is too strict and cautious, lacks passion, and the game is not very enjoyable.

Compared with Link, he also has great advantages in height and arm span.

Since Link and Klitschko are both boxing superstars with great influence, this match has also attracted the attention of media and boxing fans around the world.

According to media reports, 25,000 tickets were sold out five hours after the ticket sale started. Currently, on Amazon, VIP tickets are being sold for $32,000 each, more than 20 times higher than the sale price, and ordinary tickets are being sold for more than $1,500 each.

After the match time was announced, almost all rooms in five-star hotels near the MGM Grand in Las Vegas were booked, and almost all major casinos launched match betting projects before the match.

Since Link has not lost so far, he has shown strong strength.

The casino believes that he has a high probability of winning, so it offers high odds projects to attract gamblers: if Link loses the match, the odds are as high as 35 times, and if Link is KO'd by Klitschko, the odds are as high as 55 times.

If Link is KO'd by Klitschko in the first round, the odds are 65 to 1.

There are also some projects that bet on which round Link will win and how he will win?

The odds are quite considerable.

If Link loses the match intentionally, this match will cause many casinos to suffer serious losses.

But it is impossible for Link to lose the match intentionally.

His appearance fee for this match is 100 million US dollars, and he also has 25% PPV revenue share, 15% online live broadcast revenue share, 15% box office share, 30% advertising sponsorship share, and other revenue share.

These revenues are more than betting.

"Link, can you tell me in advance, in which round are you going to win this match?"

In the locker room, Dino Duva smiled shyly.

"It's hard to say, it depends on how many rounds Klitschko can last."

Link was swinging his arms and doing warm-up exercises.

"Then are you confident that you can KO Klitschko?"

"I will do my best to KO him and win."

Link said.

Dino curled his lips. Originally, he wanted to ask Link for some inside information to bet, but he didn't ask anything.

The match was about to start. After Link finished warming up, he began to put on boxing shorts and hand bandages.

While wearing boxing gloves, Klitschko's coach Banks walked into the lounge and asked to check Link's hand bandages.

Coaches Link and Brooks did not object, but asked Simon to record the video.

There is an unwritten rule in the boxing world that the coaches of two boxers can go to the other boxer's locker room to check the boxer's condition before the game. Before 2009, no one paid attention to this matter, and it was generally a routine matter.

However, a scandal occurred in the boxing world in 2009, which made more boxers pay attention to this procedure.

In January 2009, Antonio Margarito, the former WBO/IBF/WBA welterweight champion and Mexican boxing champion, was found by the opponent's coach to have added "gypsum powder" to his hand bandages and gauze when fighting against veteran welterweight Sean Morris.

During the pre-match inspection, no problems were usually found, but during the match, boxers' fists tend to sweat in the gloves, and the gypsum powder will harden when it encounters sweat, which can increase the hardness of the punch and increase the lethality.

After the match, Morris' coach exposed the fact that Margarito added gypsum powder to his hand bandages, which immediately caused a huge sensation in the boxing world, and Margarito's coach was permanently banned by the boxing organization.

The media and his peers condemned Margarito, and boxers who had lost to him in the past suspected that he had cheated in past matches.

Margarito, who was once so popular that even Mayweather and Pacquiao were very afraid of him, fell into disgrace, and his nickname changed from "Alien" to "Plaster Hand".

Because of this incident, boxer coaches will be more careful when checking their opponents' equipment.

Link, who has the title of Superman, has also been noticed by opponent coaches many times before the game.

It was just that this time Klitschko's coach ran over to ask for an inspection when he put on his boxing gloves, and he checked very carefully, obviously doubting his character, which was also a provocation.

After the inspection, no abnormalities were found, and Klitschko's coach led people away.

Link also led the boxing team out of the lounge and into the competition site.

Today's competition site was very lively. In addition to the official competition, there were also singing and dancing performances. The stars invited included Rihanna, the Black Eyed Peas, Ariana Grande and others, like a large concert.

Before the match, Holyfield came over as a guest host to interview Link and Klitschko, trying to provoke their anger with words, but both of them were calm and restrained, neither arrogant nor impatient.

After weighing and being interviewed, the two strode onto the boxing ring amid the cheers of tens of thousands of spectators.

——

"The match is finally about to start. Do you think Link will lose?"

In the front row of the audience, De La Hoya looked at Hopkins and James Toney next to him and asked.

"Probably not. If it was before Deonta Wilder, Alexander Povetkin, and Valuev, I think he might lose.

And his victory over Deonta proved that his punching weight and speed were top-notch in the heavyweight class, his victory over Povetkin proved that his skills and tactics were top-notch, and his victory over Valuev showed that he was not afraid of opponents taller than him. I think Link will definitely win this match."

James Toney said.

"Not necessarily. Klitschko combines the strengths of the three of them in terms of punch weight, technique, and height. In the past, Link could beat them one by one, but he might not be able to beat Klitschko, who had almost no flaws."

Hoya retorted.

"How can Klitschko have no flaws? His flaws are obvious. Facing someone with a heavier punch than him, he fights more slowly and is more likely to get hurt. In addition, he plays too rationally, has more concerns, and is not decisive enough. As long as Link can hurt him in the first three rounds, he can basically lock in the victory."

Mike Tyson said.

"So Link will not lose this game?"

Shaq Shaquille O'Neal said with his thick lips.

"You want to see Link lose? Is it because you lost to Link in basketball?"

Morales laughed.

"Nonsense! I let him not play his full strength. If I am more serious, Link is definitely not my opponent."

"Okay, I will tell Link this truthfully. Next time Link invites you to play basketball, don't play dead."

Morales smiled evilly.

O'Neal glared at him and secretly decided that if Link asked him to play basketball, he must not go, or call Wade to play two against one.

Ding Ding Ding!

The bell of the game rang, and the audience returned to calm. Everyone focused and watched the two sides of the boxing ring.

Link was wearing a pair of golden shorts with "LINK" tattooed on the waistband and a pair of golden boxing gloves. His exquisite short hair looked very energetic. His bronze skin glowed with a metallic color under the light. His inverted triangle back profile and high bulging muscles were well-proportioned and looked very strong and tough.

His waist muscles were clearly defined. Although not as thick as many heavyweight boxers, they were like the steel shaft of a machine, flexible and full of explosive power.

Link stood quietly in the middle of the boxing ring with his fists raised, looking very calm.

His opponent Klitschko was similar at this time, with a blank expression on his face. His eyes, which were more than ten centimeters higher than Link, looked at the top of Link's head, as if thinking about tactics to defeat Link.

As the referee swung his arm vigorously and announced the start of the match, Link and Klitschko touched gloves and began to punch each other.

"Come on, Link!"

"Link, I bet on you to win, don't lose."

"Come on, Klitschko, I bet 10,000 on you to win."

In the audience, the audience began to shout loudly.

Link and Klitschko ignored the noise from the audience and stared at each other with concentration. Link took a few steps forward and saw that Klitschko was ready and had no intention of attacking actively. He took the initiative to speed up and punched to test the opponent's strength and speed.

When he attacked, Klitschko chose to play a defensive counterattack.

The two sides fought six times, and Link had a preliminary understanding of the opponent's tactics, including punch weight, reaction ability, dodge speed, footwork, etc. Klitschko was very good in these aspects, especially in defense, with almost no flaws, as steady as an old dog.

After thinking about it, Link immediately increased the frequency of punching, left straight punch + right jab + left uppercut + right uppercut, and his fists hit Klitschko's double arm defense like a storm.

His purpose was simple, to compete with speed and physical strength.

Use fast punches to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and tactics, and then wait for an opportunity to find flaws in the opponent's defense, attack the opponent's weak points, and preferably injure the opponent.

This is also one of the tactics he thought of when studying Klitschko's game videos before the game.

In Klitschko's career, there was a very dangerous game, and he was almost KOed by his opponent.

This game took place in April 2004, and the opponent was WBO heavyweight champion Corey Sanders. Sanders was from South Africa. Before entering the boxing world, he was a policeman. His title in the boxing world was also "South African Policeman".

The opponent's most glorious match took place in Hanover, Germany in 2003. Sanders fought against Klitschko Jr. In two rounds, he knocked down Klitschko Jr. four times and won the WBO heavyweight gold belt.

In 2004, Sanders challenged the WBC heavyweight gold belt. At that time, the WBC heavyweight champion was Klitschko.

In the first three rounds of the game, Sanders repeatedly defeated Klitschko and once suppressed Klitschko, leaving Klitschko without the ability to fight back.

But Klitschko had a good mentality and was very calm during the game. He was neither arrogant nor discouraged when he won. After the fourth round, he used steady tactics and continuous heavy punches to gradually recover the disadvantage and finally KO Sanders in the 9th round to win.

Although Sanders lost, there are many aspects of his fighting style that are worth learning from, such as punching quickly and decisively, opening and closing, and using fast punches and cold punches to break through Klitschko's defense.

Afterwards, the media commented that this match was the most embarrassing one in Klitschko's career. If Sanders had more power and faster offensive, he would have a great chance of defeating Klitschko.

So in this match, Link learned from Sanders' failure and planned to use fast punches to break through the opponent's defense, reduce the opponent's physical strength and combat effectiveness as much as possible, and make the opponent's tactics unable to be used.

Bang, bang, bang!

Link swung his fists continuously, mainly with jabs, hitting the opponent's abdomen and ribs, supplemented by uppercuts, threatening the opponent's chin.

Hit up and down, hit down and up, looking for loopholes.

Bang!

At the 109th punch, Klitschko was unable to defend in time, and his chin was hit by Link. He couldn't help but take two steps back and hit the ropes.

Link took advantage of the opponent's front door being wide open and pressed forward. His fists hit the opponent's arms, chin, and side face like drumbeats. Klitschko was beaten dizzy and immediately used the hugging tactics to restrict his fists.

"Break!"

The referee ordered the two to separate.

Link took a step back, and after the referee announced the restart, he approached his opponent again and launched a new round of attack.

Ding Ding Ding!

The first round ended.

Link threw 168 punches, 21 of which hit the opponent's chest and abdomen, and 5 hit the opponent's chin and head.

Klitschko threw 121 punches, 1 hit Link's forehead, and 12 hits below Link's head.

In this round, although Link had the upper hand, he threw many punches and consumed a lot of energy. At the end of this round, he was sweating profusely.

Although Klitschko was hit by many punches, he was still calm and rational, maintaining the rhythm of the game, not losing his composure, and not frustrated after being beaten. His mentality was very good.

This kind of opponent is also very difficult to deal with.